In her nearly 13 years as director, Ruth Haas has overseen a period of unprecedented growth and vitality at the Cape Fear Museum.

Despite wave after wave of budget cuts from New Hanover County – resulting in a reduction in full-time staff since her arrival in 2001 – Haas has helped the museum become a central part of the region’s cultural life, as evidenced by significant growth in visitation, grant support and institutional stature.

Haas recently announced her retirement, which will take place at the end of May. She’s thought about retiring several times, but an impending project has always kept her at her job. Now, Hass said, she’s fully confident that the museum’s future is secure in the hands of her staff.

Asked what she regards as her major accomplishments at the museum, Haas mentions a greater emphasis on conservation of artifacts, a reorganization of the museum exhibit spaces to better align with the size and scope of its collections, honing the institution’s governance structure and garnering grants to further the museum’s mission.

Haas came to the Cape Fear Museum well prepared to bring an under-utilized history and science institution into the 21st century.

Trained as an educator, with a certificate in museum studies, her museum career began at the Queen’s County (N.Y.) Farm Museum and continued at Historic Annapolis Inc. and then at the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation in Virginia, where she held a series of increasingly responsible positions.

After her arrival at Cape Fear Museum, advice from transformational leadership consultant Rob Gerlach helped Haas surmount conflicting expectations by the museum’s stakeholders, including members of the United Daughters of the Confederacy – the organization that founded the museum in 1898 – as well as museum trustees and the county commissioners.

“Gerlach says you need to identify what people agree on as to a vision for the future, so we developed a strategic map, which served us well until a year ago, when some new priorities emerged. That map allowed us to have some successes early on,” Haas said. “For example, there was no historian on staff. It’s not good if you claim to be the oldest historical museum in North Carolina and you don’t have a staff historian.”

When a staffer left soon after Haas arrived, the museum redefined the position and was able to get an historian on board.

In the strategic planning process, Haas helped reshape the museum’s governance. The board of trustees became a museum advisory board, giving the new director and her staff a solid foundation for planning and execution. As fundraising became more critical in an era of budget cuts, the museum’s not-for-profit arm had its own board to oversee finances.

“We have clarified relationships among the commissioners, the museum advisory board and the fundraising board, and they are good working relationships,” she said.

As dwindling resources from the county necessitated staff reductions, Haas reorganized remaining staff so they could work more efficiently and their job descriptions better fit the tasks at hand. Most recently, Haas was able to restore a development coordinator position.

Then there was the need to better integrate the museum into the community.

“The museum had solid credentials, the staff was well trained and followed correct procedures, but the museum needed to be more relevant to the community,” Haas said, noting that simply installing signage outside the museum building increased visitation by more than a third.

A related challenge was to match collections to available space and to freshen the long-term exhibits. 

“Fifty percent of our collection was 20th century [materials], but we had only one case to display it in. And in 2001, our long-term exhibits were 10 years old,” she said.

“We started a master planning process with an outside consultant. We had a 2,500-square-foot gallery but too few people to manage changing exhibits there, so we dedicated it to 20th century long-term exhibits and identified two smaller spaces for changing exhibits. Now the museum has 4,500 square feet of long-term space and one 600-square-foot gallery and one 800-square-foot gallery for changing exhibits.”

Cape Fear Museum also was the owner of a prized collection of more than 100 historic flags, but they presented problems early in Haas’ tenure. A decision by the trustees to fly four of the flags outside of the museum, including the Confederate Stars and Bars, sparked both protests in the community and objections from United Daughters of the Confederacy members over the method of displaying them.

“Flags should always be displayed in context rather than flying them outside. Our flags have stories, and they’re authentic references to their period,” Haas said.

With the flags very much on their minds, the trustees asked for an assessment of the collection, which includes one flag that predates the Civil War. The examination made it clear that the banners were in serious need of conservation; the museum had an annual conservation budget of $3,000. Haas looked for outside grant support.

“With our first grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, we did an exhibit in 2002 on conserving historical flags,” Haas said. “We made a film of the conservation process for one of them, a flag flown over the Wilmington Customs House until it closed. Then we sold stars and raised enough money to conserve 10 flags.

“It was a huge step forward. After that, we doubled our conservation budget to $6,000, with $3,000 from the county and $3,000 raised by the museum’s 501(c)3 board. That was one of our greatest accomplishments; we raised awareness and got more support. Now we’re trying to raise $21,000 for conservation.”

With the 20th century exhibit reorganized and the lobby redone to provide better initial orientation for visitors, the next exhibit priority was to revamp the 18th century displays.

“We redid it with a $150,000 IMLS [Institute of Museum and Library Services] grant, plus money from the county and the Swain family,” Haas said.

“That was a half-million-dollar exhibit, not counting the value of staff time. We have a very creative staff; they provided services we would have had to contract for elsewhere.”

Next, Haas said, the 19th century gallery needs attention.

But that’s not the only looming project that keeps Haas engaged in her job. She’s excited about plans that will significantly expand the museum’s ability to educate people about the county environment.

A bond issue for county parks, passed in 2006, allocated $500,000 to the Cape Fear Museum. The money must be spent by June 2015. After asking themselves what kind of project would align with the purpose of the funds, the museum staff came up with an idea to convert its Market Street parking lot into a park. Specifically, the park will be an interpretive garden, bordered by native and adaptive plants, with an interactive map of the Cape Fear River system in the center.

“We’ll interpret the lower Cape Fear River system: how it is used, how it has changed and how it was changed by the environment and changed the environment,” Haas said. “We’ll open up our boat display, which will be much more relevant than it is now.”

Haas has applied for an IMLS grant of $150,000, which will be matched by the park dollars. She and the museum staff are waiting for final approval of the plan from the county commissioners.

“I feel confident that this project is in good hands,” she said. “I can’t wait to come back for the celebration when it’s finished.”

She won’t lack other activities following her retirement. Haas and her husband, an attorney and retired military officer who serves as a faculty member and prelaw advisor at University of North Carolina Wilmington, will move back to Williamsburg, Va., where they lived for many years. Their daughter and her family live in Richmond, and the couple is looking forward to some serious grandchild time. They’re also planning a trip to Hawaii, where their son and his wife, both active military personnel, are currently stationed.

But she won’t have too much time for family and travel: Haas has also been told that the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation has placed her name at the top of its volunteer roster.